1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and improved furniture joint and more particularly to a joint between a rear chair leg and a side seat rail characterized by the facts that the joint is fabricated to resemble a composite beam of wood and metal and the joint is pre-stressed so that it is under compression and that the stressing members are bonded to the wood of the chair to form a composite joint.
2. Description of Related Art
Furniture joints have traditionally been reinforced by means of dowel pins, mortise and tenon joints and screw fasteners as well as adhesives. However, such joints have traditionally failed when the joint is subjected to stress such as that caused when one tilts backward on a chair. Adhesives generally fail under tension during such stress, causing the joint to fail. This is particularly true for aged joints which have experienced cycling of moisture in the environment with concomitant swelling and contraction of the wood forming the joint. Dowels tend to fail at the glue interface and the wood holding the screws in place tears away. The present invention is an improvement over prior joints in that the joint is metal reinforced in such manner as to place the joint under compression. Further, the metal parts are bonded to the wooden parts by an adhesive to form a composite joint. Additionally, dowels are replaced by elongated, toughened metal rods which are inserted in holes in the joint and are caused to adhere to the wood by epoxy or other adhesive to form a composite beam of wood and metal.